1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to clothing for children and, more particularly, to a coat for a child that is quickly and easily assembled around the child rather than sliding the child's head or arms through narrow apertures in the coat.
2. Description of the Related Art
Children and infants can be difficult to clothe at times. Narrow openings, such as those frequently found within sleeves and neck holes of garments become difficult targets while the child flails its arms and wiggles about. Moreover, the child has to be rolled from side to side or partially, if not totally, elevated from the table or floor in order to properly clothe the child in the garment. More times than not, the child is difficult to maneuver leading to further difficulty and frustration.
Various prior art garments have been designed in an effort to simplify the process of clothing a child or infant. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,568,213 Mason discloses a garment for an infant that incorporates a pair of upper and lower garments into a single article of clothing that can be placed on the infant simultaneously. However, the general design of Mason's garment pattern is fairly complex in its geometry, when manufacturing considerations, such as sizing, are considered. This leads to increases in manufacturing costs and decreases the garment's ease of use by the consumer. Moreover, Mason's design fails to provide for adequate limb coverage, thus decreasing its available uses.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,257,127, Kaupin, et al., discloses an infant garment that also incorporates upper and lower garments to increase the speed and ease of clothing the child. The Kaupin, et al design improves upon the Mason design to the extent that the Kaupin, et al. design provides better limb coverage for the child. However, the Kaupin, et al. design is more complex than the Mason design and is more difficult to assemble, thus departing the goals of simplicity and ease of use. Such is the case for a similar design of children's garment, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,726,076, by Douez.
Few children's clothing designs can be found within the prior art that are both simple in geometry and easy to use when clothing a child. One example of a prior art children's jacket is U.S. Pat. No. 4,304,007, by Ito. The Ito garment is fabricated using a body blank and two separate gusset blanks. The gusset blanks are specifically kite-shaped and are coupled to the geometric design of the body blank to form the jacket. Due to its geometric design that requires the use of separate component panels, Ito fails to achieve a garment that is easy to use while remaining simple in design.
Accordingly, what is needed is a child's garment that is simple in design and increases the ease with which a child can be clothed.